All things animal in Southern California and beyond

Your morning adorable: New koala in town at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

July 22, 2009 | 12:02
pm

The newest resident at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is Bulkee, a 5-year-old koala imported from the ZooParc de Beauval in France. Bulkee, the zoo hopes, will be an asset to its already-successful koala conservation and breeding program.

"From what we've seen so far, he seems to be a good match for our female koalas," Steve Taylor, the zoo's director, said in a statement. The two females, Colliet and Midgee, have given birth to a combined total of 12 koala babies over the last 10 years.

To keep the koalas in fresh eucalyptus, the zoo will spend about $90,000 this year to have 17 varieties of the plant shipped in from Arizona and Florida, the Plain Dealer reports.